Is Santorini the location of the lost city of Atlantis?

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Greece is a land of many myths and legends and Santorini plays a significant part in that tradition. Many scholars and scientists of the past have claimed that Santorini is the location of the legendary lost city of Atlantis. It is said that it was actually here, on this spectacular island born of fire and brimstone, that the once great city stood. It doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to assume that it may be true if you look at the main factors which lead to this conclusion.

Plato first mentioned the existence of such a place in his writings Kritias and Timaios. He talked of a flourishing civilization with divine origins that lived on an island or a small continent outside the columns of Hercules. After becoming arrogant and over ambitious, the gods punished them by sinking the island into the sea one day with an enormous volcanic eruption. Plato talks of a once circular island that was destroyed, which matches exactly the events leading to the destruction of Santorini by a massive earthquake in 1646 BC. It is as if the whole island simply sank into the sea, to remain there forever as a testament to the wrath of the gods. The excavations at Akrotiri definitely proved that Santorini used to be a land of very developed people, with intricate wall frescoes and detailed drawings depicting images of a rich populace who used to engage in trade, farming and sport. They lived a very prosperous life, with well structured towns and spacious abodes.

The spectacular landscape of Santorini, its volcanic hues of black, red and ashen grey and its unique geological formation are really unique. Nowhere else on earth will you find such an ancient land with such a dramatic history. It is no surprise that its demise would have been an epic event, one which even Plato himself would have written about. Although technology has helped archaeologist to learn more about that dramatic era, they are no closer to discovering where Atlantis was really located.

Did it ever really exist?

Well, if you ask us folk here on Santorini, of course you will hear an answer which will solve the mystery once and for all!